


Louder than War

by jendavis



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Comment Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-08
Updated: 2010-11-08
Packaged: 2017-10-13 03:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jendavis/pseuds/jendavis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:  "SGA, Ronon/Any, Satedan Rock'n'Roll"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Louder than War

"It's broken," Ronon leaned back in his chair to glare at the device on the table.

John scratched his head, put the cartridge he was holding back in the box. "Think McKay can fix it?" because Ronon had been excited over the find, ever since returning from Sateda, and John had to say _something_.

It wasn't like he could admit his disappointment, not in the face of Ronon's own. It just would have been interesting, hearing the music he'd grown up on. Like something people did, sometimes. Back home. Talking about records and concerts and songs on the radio.

"Doesn't matter," Ronon said. "Not important."

Up until a few hours ago, John hadn't even known there'd ever _been_ music on Sateda. He'd never given it any thought.

He has a hard time thinking about anything else for the next few days.

\---

It took one month, two smuggling operations, four bribes, three hundred dollars, and a drive out to Dr. Lee's house on a Saturday afternoon to transfer the files to a functional device, but like the TV ad would've said, "Giving your boyfriend the best mix tape ever? Priceless."

John's fingers itched to press play the entire flight home, but it seemed presumptuous to listen alone, so he got out his own ipod, but wound up staring at it instead.

 _Seven years without music_.

He had no idea what that lack would feel like, but he tried, for the rest of the trip. Three weeks wasn't seven years, but it was bad enough.

Ronon was disappointed to see the sad state of his things when they were returned, and suspicious of the mp3 player, but eventually, with the cord trailing down from under his hair, his thumb did what John's had wanted to do for weeks, and everything John thought he knew about Ronon's face changed.

Surprise, horror, elevation, misery, joy. Too much to watch and too much for Ronon to show, so John squeezed his shoulder, nodded towards the door, and let him be.

\---

"You want to listen?" he finally asked, letting himself into John's room late that night, his face again settled and a little wry, but John didn't comment, just set his book down and made room on his bed, accepting the earbuds from Ronon's hand,

It was _loud_ , he noticed first, dialing it down, but it wasn't just the volume. It _roared_ , too many drums in a rhythm that caught but didn't roll over when he thought it would. Pipes screamed out over a low grinding drone, and the voices came in, a chorus of shrieking cries sorting themselves into a pounding chant.

He couldn't understand the words, not with everything else going on, but it was louder than war. Bigger. Made him want to fight and dance and scream. _Move_.

In short, it rocked, _hard_ , and he couldn't believe that something so alive ever existed on a bombed-out husk like Sateda.

He got it, then. The exact _scope_ of the destruction.

He almost admitted as much to Ronon, but found him watching him intently, with a slightly hopeful look in his eyes. Right then, Ronon wasn't thinking about the destruction, about what it all meant. John was pretty sure he was wondering if John _liked_ it.

"This is really good," he tried, but if Ronon responded, there was no way to hear him over the wall of sound, and it was starting to feel a little strange, that invisible distance.

He removed one of the earbuds, handing it over, and Ronon settled a bit closer against his side, and suddenly, this was exactly what John had wanted all along.

"I went to see them perform, once," Ronon said, after a while, a smile hovering faintly at the edges of his mouth, and suddenly, he was talking about Sateda, only it wasn't about the end, it was about the life. It was entirely new.

"A bunch of us from the academy snuck out, climbed through the windows…"

  



End file.
